Saturday: Bucs at Fish, Nova v Dan Straily, Lineup, Notes (Freeser on DL; Ortiz Called Up)

Tonight:The game opens at 7:10 at Marlins Stadium. The game will be on Root Sports and 93.7 The Fan.

Lineup: Josh Harrison 3B, J-Bell 1B, Cutch CF, Gregory Polanco LF, Fran Cervelli C, John Jaso RF, Jordy Mercer SS, Gift Ngoepe 2B & Ivan Nova P. Gift gets his second start and it looks like J-Hay will be the hot corner dude for a spell as Freeser went on the DL today.

J-Hay locked into third (photo Dave Arrigo/Pirates)

Pitchers: Ivan Nova (2-2, 2.00) goes against Dan Straily (1-1, 3.92). Nova just keeps on throwing strikes and collecting outs; we'll see if the club can get him some runs to work with tonight. This will be his first trip to the mound against the Marlins. Straily has been a pretty honest pitcher against the Bucs. Last year was his first full campaign in the NL (w/the Reds) and he went 2-2, 3.38 in five starts (six outings) v Pittsburgh. In his 32 IP, he gave up 24 hits and was a little wild with 14 walks but countered with 27 punch-outs. He K'd 14 Padres in his last outing, and has credited his rebound over the past couple of seasons to a plyometric program he began to strengthen his shoulder.

Notes:

• David Freese was placed on the 10-day DL retro to 4/26 and OF Danny Ortiz was called up. Danny is 27-years-old and will be the fourth Pirate rookie from Indy to report to the big club since April 21st. Ortiz doesn't hit worth a lick (he's batting .217 at Indy on the heels of a .234 campaign last year) but is a real outfielder who can play all three spots in the pasture. It will be his first taste of MLB.

Danny Ortiz joins the gang (photo Dave Arrigo/Pirates)

• Cutch has reached base safely in 17 straight games and Josh Bell has a 12-game string going.
• The Pirates had three players - Dovydas Neverauskas, Gift Ngoepe & Jose Osuna - make their MLB debuts this week (all three started the year at AAA Indy) after having 12 players begin their big-league careers in 2016.
• Miami has lost three in a row
• Looks like the Buccos woke up the Cards. After the sweep by Pittsburgh earlier in the month dropped St. Louis to 3-9, the Redbirds have since won 9-of-11.